The Human Eros: Eco-ontology and the Aesthetics of Existence

453 Pages·2013·2.15 MB·English

by  Thomas M. Alexander

the human eros
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american philosophy
Douglas R. Anderson and Jude Jones, series editors
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the human eros
Eco-ontology and the Aesthetics
of Existence
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thomas m. alexander
fordham university press new work 2013
Copyright © 2013 Fordham University Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Alexander, Thomas M., 1952–
The human eros : eco-ontology and the aesthetics of existence /
Thomas Alexander. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (American philosophy)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8232-5120-9 (cloth : alk. paper) —
ISBN 978-0-8232-5121-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Aesthetics. 2. Philosophy, American—20th century.
3. Dewey, John, 1859–1952. 4. Santayana, George, 1863–1952. I. Title.
BH39.A43 2013
191—dc23
2012041923
Pr inted in the United States of America
15 14 13 5 4 3 2 1
Fir st edition
Fo r my sons, Adam Hartley Alexander and
Nathan Blake Alexander
Go in beauty
And for Ka
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Contents
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Ac knowledgments xi
In troduction 1
Pa rt I: Nature and Experience
1 Th e Aesthetics of Reality: The Development of Dewey’s
Ecological Theory of Experience 27
2 De wey’s Denotative-Empirical Method: A Thread through
the Labyrinth 54
3 Be tween Being and Emptiness: Toward an Eco-ontology of
Inhabitation 72
4 Th e Being of Nature: Dewey and Buchler and the Prospect
for an Eco-ontology 103
Pa rt II: Eros and Imagination
5 Th e Human Eros 135
6 Pr agmatic Imagination 159
7 Jo hn Dewey and the Moral Imagination: Beyond Putnam
and Rorty toward an Ethics of Meaning 180
8 Ed ucating the Democratic Heart: Pluralism, Traditions,
and the Humanities 207
{ ix }